This Cybersecurity Month, Safeguard your Personal Data
October is Cybersecurity Month, and the perfect time to do a digital check-up to ensure your personal information is protected against these increasingly-savvy cybercriminals.
When it comes to protecting your personal information, it seems like scammers are ready to pounce on your data through every channel imaginable – whether it’s through social media, your cell phone or your cloud storage.
First, let’s talk about cybercrime itself. Cybercrime is an illegal activity that targets or uses a computer, digital device or a network to carry out a crime, usually with the goal of making money at the victim’s expense.
Types of cybercrime include (but are not limited to):
Identity theft/fraud
Financial or card payment theft
Phishing, or email and internet fraud (which can also take the form of “smishing” or fraudulent text messages, or “vishing,” which uses voicemail as the means to attack)
Ransomware attacks
Cyberextortion (demanding money to prevent an attack)
Selling illegal items online
Cyberstalking
So, short of quitting your day job and becoming a cybersecurity professional, what are some ways to become a digital defender of your own data? Here are some tips for safeguarding your info!
Don’t Click Right Away: By now, we’ve all probably received an email that seemed…off. An email from your “boss” telling you to carry out a financial favor. A text from a “friend” telling you to share your password. A “retailer” leaving a voicemail saying your credit card has been compromised and you need to call them immediately to recover your funds. Phishing scams use legitimate-sounding mechanisms to trick you into revealing passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers or other highly personal information. Stay one step ahead of these tricksters by evaluating these requests with a discerning eye and avoid clicking suspicious links or calling back.
Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication: Any time you can, ensure you’re using a two- or multi-step authentication process. This extra precautionary step can be a bit cumbersome at times, but trust us, it’s worth the safeguard. These multi-factor authentication systems – on email, cloud services, social media, retailers, banks, streaming services and other websites – require a password and another form of verification that it is really you looking to obtain your personal information. Don’t skip this!
Up Your Password Game: Perhaps one of the easiest ways to protect your data is to use strong – and different – passwords across the board. Each should be long (think 15 characters or more) and unique (meaning, you use each in one place). Randomly-generated passwords produced by a computer or password manager can also be helpful at creating and storing passwords, because let’s face it: no one can remember hundreds of unique passwords accurately, and putting them on a sticky note would be counterproductive to the purpose of having these unique passwords in place!
Work with a Cybersecurity Expert: At The Concannon Agency, we work with both businesses and individuals to help with cybersecurity and data protection. As you can imagine, each individual’s needs vary greatly, so there are no one-size-fits-all approaches to digital security, which is where our team comes in. We can discuss your goals and concerns, conduct an audit and make recommendations that can help safeguard your data.
In the days of interconnectivity, being cyber-smart is a necessity. Follow these steps and contact us to learn more about how you can stay ahead of cybercriminal activity.
